The news reports a controversy over the use of a device that gives a shrill, piercing noise intended to repel teenage loiters. The $1500 device called the mosquito is bothersome only to children over 12 years of age can be heard by few people beyond the early twenty’s because this age range have sensitive hair cells in their inner ears. Whether you can hear it depends upon how much your hearing has deteriorated. Since being put on the market over…
I have posted many complaints about the Bush administration’s assault on govermental agencies and regulations intended to protect the environment. (See for example: The Bush Administration Tries to Hide the Global Warming Ball Again with a Gag Order 3/9/07) It has done this by appointing people to head agencies controlling regulation of the environment whose assigned role is undermining the regulatory function of the agency. See, for example, post 4/1/07) The Bush white house has also played a significant role…
Jeff Bridges starred in a 1996 movie White Squall, which describes life aboard a ninety two twin masted sailing ship Albatross. The movie is based on a true story of a tragic sinking of the ship. The ship was built in 1920 in Amsterdam as a schooner to serve as a pilot boat in the North Sea. In 1937 it was purchased by the German government and served as a radio station ship for submarines during World War II. In…
When I was a boy many comics and boys magazines had an ad for Charles Atlas. Charles Atlas was a classically built strong man. The ads usually were a series of comic like drawings showing a skinny young man at the beach with his girl friend, but having sand kicked in his face and being bullied by a bigger young man. The drawings showed him buying the Charles Atlas body building book of instructions and taking his revenge next time…
A friend sent me this poem. He said it was an old Irish poem, but I don’t know if that is accurate or not. I don’t know the author of the poem, but I thought it had a very inspiring message about friendship If one day you feel like crying…Call me.I don’t promise that I will make you laugh,But I can cry with you If one day you want to run away–Don’t be afraid to call me.I don’t promise to…
I’m reading a box recommended by a friend: Super Crunchers written by Ian Ayres which deals with statistical analysis and numbers. In it he discusses Austrian physician Ignaz Semmelweis who noted, in the 1840’s, that at Vienna General Hospital maternity patients were much more likely to die when treated by doctors who had recently left the autopsy room. He concluded that there was a connection even though germs were unknown. He did a detailed statistical study of the situation. His…
I was asked by parents to write something about life to their thirteen year old boy. It was hard to know what I should emphasize out of all the years of learning and reading. I decided to stick to the simple basics. It isn’t very profound, but here it is for what it is worth: The most important thing to know about yourself is that your life is divided into in separate aspects. These include (1) our health and fitness,…
Until George W. Bush was sworn in as president January 20, 2001, there were several U.S. Presidents who were regarded as the worst in American History. Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) was always the leading candidate for the worst president in American History. Harding is now a very distant runner up behind George W. Bush as the worst president in U.S. history. The list of qualifying facts for this position is too long to print here. But at the top of…
John Gielgud appeared in hundreds of theatrical productions and films as well. He was a gifted actor in both drama and comedy. He was one of few people who had won an Emmy, a Grammy an Oscar and a Tony Award. He was knighted in 1953. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1964 for Becket and in 1981 was an Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor in Arthur and the winner of BAFTA awards as Best British Actor….
I’m slowly reading Sheridan Morley’s John Gielgud. The book discusses the 1957 Otto Premiger’s screen version of Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan. The movie cast included Richard Widmark (who just recently died) and Gielgud. Premiger cast an eighteen year old unknown & inexperienced girl from Iowa, Joan Seberg after a publicized search for the right actress for the part. Some 18,000 actresses were supposedly considered before she was selected by the director. However, shortly after starting the filming, Premiger decided he…
